Novus et Venificus
by Marcie 'Riquez
Summary: Harry finds that seventh year isn't so easy, especially when he runs into a new girl...
1. Default Chapter

Chapter 1 THE PLAN  
  
It was a nice warm August-the-first evening. Green-eyed, seventeen- year- old, jet black haired Harry Potter was lying down on the Dursley's front lawn. He didn't want to waste this beautiful, golden evening by being locked up in his room as aunt Petunia yells at him from the bottom of the stairs saying things like: "Potter, you better come down here and clear the table off the dishes Dudley has broken!" or "What are you doing, you lazy pig? We clothe you and put a roof over your head and this is the thanks we get?! Now get down here and clean up Dudley's broken lap-top! When you're finished you can clean out the cupboard of any cobwebs!"  
  
"Geez," thought Harry, "if that's what could be happening right now then obviously she doesn't know I'm out here."  
  
At this thought Harry felt a bit uncomfortable so he decided not to think about his aunt and all of her demands. Instead, he went back to looking at the clouds. He enjoyed looking at the different shapes they took, and so far he had seen a giant squid like the one in the lake at Hogwarts, a cotton ball, a hippogriff, another cotton ball, a dragon like a Hungarian Horntail burning a thestral's tail, and a cotton ball that happens to be stuck to a blast-ended skrewt's tail. Apart from the cotton balls, Harry realized that he was thinking too much about Hogwarts and the Wizarding World.  
  
He couldn't stand it! He had to talk to someone about Hogwarts. He could recall so many days this summer were he was very close to mentioning something to do with Hogwarts in front of the Dursley's but just managed to bite his tongue and change his mind. Unfortunately there was no one around for miles, from what he knew, that go to Hogwarts. No, actually there was Hermione but she was most likely out camping with Krum or something. "Wait!" he whispered to himself, "There is someone; Mrs. Figg!"  
  
Now this was entirely true, but there was only one problem: how would he be able to go to her house without making the Dursleys think that he would enjoy visiting her? If they find out that he enjoys visiting Mrs. Figg, they will never let him go to her house. He could make the Dursleys go out on some sort of a vacation, and since they hate it when he has fun, they can send him over to Mrs. Figg. "That's perfect!" he exclaimed. "But how will I make them leave?"  
  
This was a problem. If he couldn't get the Dursleys to leave, his whole "plan" would go down the drain. Then it hit him, "What am I doing? Of course, it's simple! All I have to do is trick them into going on a camping trip and they'll have to leave me behind!"  
  
So Harry got up, a bit reluctantly, and started into the house.  
  
As he went through the living room, Aunt Petunia caught one glimpse of him and, as Harry had presumed she would, she screamed, "Where in tarnation have you been? We've been looking all over for you! Diddykins has accidentally broken his X-Box and we need you to clean it up!"  
  
I knew Dudley couldn't go throughout a whole day without breaking at least one thing, thought Harry to himself.  
  
"Well hop to it, boy!" shouted his Uncle Vernon, making him jump. "Quit standing around and listen to your aunt!" "Yes sir," replied Harry trying his best not to ruin his "oh-so perfect" plan.  
  
When he finished picking up every little bit of the remains of Dudley's X-Box it was already dinner time. He felt confident that this would be the time to put his plan into action.  
  
During dinner, which consisted of a lean rump roast and mashed potatoes with fat free gravy, all of which Harry had none and Dudley had most of, Uncle Vernon was talking about drills- again.  
  
"...and this one young man came and asked me if the 12mm drill came any cheaper, and I told him 'If it did, I would have such a profitable job' and do you know what he told me? Well, that no good adolescent said he saw the same drill at Darren's for five dollars less! And I said to him, 'If you wanted a cheaper drill, then why in heaven's name did you come all this way to bother me?' And all he did before turning around was yell, 'Yeah, well, thanks for nothing you purple wind-bagged creep!' Can you believe it Petunia? He should be glad I didn't go after him! I have the right to sell my drills at a reasonable price in order to be able to live a comfortable life right?" Uncle Vernon complained.  
  
"Right, dad!" said Dudley with his chest out looking proud.  
  
"Exactly what I think my son!"  
  
"Yeah that's very true," Harry said trying not to sound so out of place and failing miserably. They all stared at him. Oh great thought Harry, now they think I'm some sort of a lunatic.  
  
"Well," Harry tried to redeem himself, "he does help out the family and I do get clothing, food and shelter right?"  
  
"Rrrright," Uncle Vernon was very confused.  
  
"Yeah, there are lots of people who don't think about others and how they also need to survive."  
  
Aunt Petunia shrugged in a puzzled way. Dudley looked stupefied- which wasn't much of a difference because he always looked stupefied.  
  
"What are you getting at, boy?" inquired his uncle in a careful manner.  
  
"Well I was just saying that there are those who take advantage of their homes and the homes of others. And that well, we -well you- should go camping," Harry tried very hard not to sound so eager. Oh man they're staring at me, now what should I do? I need to save my butt, I'm dying out here! "Yeah, I mean...you know...it's like, people take advantage of little things like electricity and so it would be cool to go camping in order to live a natural life for a couple of days. That way we can see how much electricity is so valuable and things like that."  
  
"You know what, Petunia?" said Uncle Vernon quite slowly, "I think Potter has a point."  
  
"You really think so?" Aunt Petunia looked worried.  
  
"Yes, we should go camping and get out of town."  
  
"No!" Dudley cut in. "We can't go! There isn't television, how will I survive?!!"  
  
"Come off it! We can still find a way to have fun," Uncle Vernon said.  
  
"So does this mean we're going?" Harry persisted.  
  
"Oh, no you don't! You will not be coming with us!" his uncle said getting all purple.  
  
"What? That's not fair!" Harry tried not to sound sarcastic. "I thought that I would get to go swimming."  
  
"Ha-ha! You're the only one you can blame because you're the one who suggested it in the first place!" Dudley thought he was making Harry mad, but he obviously wasn't.  
  
"Well it's settled then! We will leave on Friday to camp down in, what is it called?" Uncle Vernon asked.  
  
"Sunshine Valley?" suggested Harry's aunt.  
  
"Yes that's the one!"  
  
"Great I'll go and pack!" looking at Harry maliciously he hurriedly waddled upstairs.  
  
"Aww man! Now I have to stay with Mrs. Figg and her cats. Yuck! I hate how her house smells so bad like boiled cabbage." Harry pretended to complain.  
  
"You dumb boy, you! That's exactly where we're sending you!" Uncle Vernon gave a quick yet evil little laugh.  
  
"I'll call her right away," aunt petunia had a fierce look in her eyes.  
  
A few minutes later aunt petunia came in -the fierce gleam gone- looking as if she had just seen a repeat of "My Home Town".  
  
"She's not home," she said in a long emotionally-drained voice. "There is a message on her answering machine that she away on vacation."  
  
"That old goat is on vacation?!!" uncle Vernon boomed in fury.  
  
"Yes," Harry's aunt's voice got smaller, "it says so on her answering machine she's gone."  
  
"So now what are we supposed to do with him?!" said uncle Dursley oblivious to the fact that Harry was sitting there in the same room. "If we take him we'll have to be responsible for him. We'll have to feed him and he'll have to be with us the whole time!" at this point uncle Vernon was so purple you couldn't tell the difference between his throbbing veins and his skin.  
  
"But I don't want him to go he'll just ruin the fun! Why can't he stay home?" Dudley was wailing at this point.  
  
"Are you mad? If we leave him here he'll rip the place apart," uncle Vernon was so enraged he could barely speak.  
  
"If I go I won't bother you. If you let me I can just use that old tent that you have and sleep in there," said Harry who was totally abashed at this horrible news. "And you don't need to feed I can cook for myself and I won't be anywhere near you, alright?"  
  
All that the others could do was stare. They obviously didn't know whether this was alright or not but what else could they do? So they decided to take Harry with them "On two conditions," uncle Vernon said, his face a light puce colour now, "you must not be around us for a very long time and number two you must not embarrass us especially with that funny business of yours!"  
"Don't worry uncle Vernon, I won't break the rules," Harry really did not want to go but since he had to he did not want to get on their bad side, so he obeyed.  
"You better not!" Dudley wasn't very pleased by this decision, so after shouting this he stormed upstairs to pack his bags. 


	2. Ch 2 Camp Mishap

Chapter 2  
  
The ride to Sunshine Valley was no day in the park it was more like a day in an oven in the inferno. It was so stuffy and hot inside the car Harry thought he was only breathing in the same carbon dioxide he had exhaled a few hours ago. The open windows didn't help before either –they had just passed a couple of farms which had so evidently fertilized their fields- and now they were starting to get used to the out-of-town-and-farms air which, unfortunately, was fuming hot.  
Another unfortunate thing is that Dudley was so desperate to cool down –he is so fat his own skin acts like blubber on a walrus in Alaska- that he turned on the air conditioning. It was quite sad that it wasn't strong enough to penetrate through his lard so, having the temper he has, he smashed the air conditioning buttons causing them to not have air conditioning. This is the reason why they are dying of heat.  
"Are we there yet?" Dudley was getting restless, well actually he was restless when he first got into the car.  
"Almost, son; almost," uncle Vernon was beet red and looking forwards to the road like a crazed lunatic.  
At this point Harry couldn't speak; he was too tired, and hot. All he did was sit, squished against the door, his head a third out of the window trying to get as much fresh air as possible. After what seemed seconds, Harry dozed off to sleep, and started to dream.  
Harry found himself in a cold dark place. It looked like a chamber –the chamber of secrets?-it couldn't be; could it? He could feel the frigid air engulf him so powerfully he felt his windpipe freezing shut. Why is it so damn cold? He thought to himself. Oh crap no. He felt a presence, but it wasn't actually there. What is this?!   
Behind him he heard quick moving footsteps he slowly turned around and right behind him was- SKREETCH! The car came to a grueling stop which woke Harry up; uncle Vernon almost collided with a bright metallic orange car. Harry shook his head as if shaking dust out of his hair, in order to wake himself up fully. Now, he could easily make out a little road extending not too far in front, surrounded by luscious green brush, and the entrance to the camp.  
"Well we're here, no thanks to that stupid git," said uncle Vernon, "I bet he's one of those reckless teens who drive like mad dogs."  
He was right. As the passengers in the orange car stepped out Harry could see a pair of teenagers and two adults stepping out of the back of the car. The driver was tall but he could be taller if he wasn't so hunched. The other teen who was sitting on the passenger's side was a girl with bushy brown- "Hang on-" Harry said to himself. This wasn't just any pair of teens this was Hermione with her parents, and could that be? Yes it was Krum, "Viktor Krum?"  
"What?" uncle Vernon wanted to know who this Viktor was.  
"Oh...um nothing, I was just remembering something from my dream.  
"Loser," Dudley just had to get his money's worth in. "Mum, Dad, would it be alright to go walk around before you go and get registered for our campsite?"  
"That'd be wonderful Diddykins," said aunt Petunia in a sweet voice (a tone she never uses when speaking to any other human being).  
"You can only go if you take Harry because I don't want him pestering us in the car," uncle Vernon said this in a level yet strong tone.  
"Oh, no dad please he's so annoying. Does he have to?"  
"Yeah do I have to?"  
"Yes and that's final!"  
"Fine," the two said in low unhappy voices.  
  
As they walked along the path into the campgrounds, Dudley forced Harry to go one way, he go another, and that they would meet up back at the car later. Harry agreed because he was just about to suggest the same thing. So, Dudley went one way and Harry went to find Hermione.  
Harry walked passed tents and campers, looking at the scenery. He didn't want to see Hermione just yet. He was too confused as to why Krum was with Hermione; he decided to go back to the car.  
When he got there Dudley was also just arriving, luckily.  
"Well boys, we're staying here," uncle Dursley said pointing at a number on a map, "You will each have your own map so that if you want to go somewhere you'll both know where to go when you want to get back to the campground." Harry could tell that this was directed to him because afterwards uncle Dursley told Harry that he could go wherever he wanted as long as he spent as little time as possible with them.  
Harry pretended to feel unhappy but he was obviously wasn't he was going to look for Hermione and Krum and get to the bottom of this "mystery". 


End file.
